1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to card connectors and more specifically, to a card connector, which has a card insertion guide for guiding an electronic card in and out of the card insertion space smoothly and preventing sudden jumping of the inserted electronic card out of the card connector upon ejection of the inserted electronic card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following rapid development of modern technology, electronic products, such as computer, cellular phone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), digital camera, digital video camera, digital sound recorder and etc. are modularized to provide multiple functions. Further, an electronic product may be provided with a card connector for the insertion of an electronic card (memory card) for storing data. Commercially available memory cards include MMC (MultiMedia Card), SD (SecureDigital Memory Card), SM (Smart Media Card), CF (CompactFlash Card), SMC (SmartMedia Card), MS (Memory Stick) and etc. Following the market trend toward light, thin, short and small characteristics, advanced memory cards and card connectors are made relatively smaller. To facilitate insertion and ejection of a memory card, a card connector usually provides a card ejector, i.e., PUSH-PUSH function (two push actions complete one cycle). When ejecting the inserted memory card, the card ejector is forced by a spring member to push the inserted memory card out of the card connector. However, if the user presses the card ejector suddenly with an excessively high pressure, the spring force may force the inserted memory card to jump out of the card connector, causing damage.
FIG. 8 illustrates a card connector according to the prior art. According to this design, a metal shielding cover A of the card connector has a guide slot A1 for guiding movement of a card retaining member B1 of a card ejector B. The guide slot A1 has a narrow elongated guide portion A12, and a wide front portion A11 at the front side of the narrow elongated guide portion A12. The card retaining member B1 has a mounting portion B11 at one end, a spring arm B12 at the other end, and a guide portion B13 upwardly extending from the top side and inserted into the guide slot A1 to guide movement of the card retaining member B1 along the guide slot A1. During card ejection, the guide portion B13 is moved along the narrow elongated guide portion A12 into the wide front portion A11, and the spring arm B12 is kept in engagement with the memory card before the guide portion B13 reaches the wide front portion A11. When the guide portion B13 reached the wide front portion A11, the spring arm B12 is released from the memory card.
The aforesaid prior art card connector is still not satisfactory in function because of the following drawbacks:    1. During movement of the memory card into or out of the card connector, the narrow elongated guide portion A12 does not allow the card retaining member B1 to displace subject to the curving of the sliding track of the card ejector B, and a stress is concentrated at the guide portion B13 of the card retaining member B1. This concentration of stress may cause the guide portion B13 to deform permanently or to break.    2. The guide portion B13 is suspending in the wide front portion A11 without any support before movement of the card ejector B by a memory card. When a memory card is inserted into the card connector to move the card retaining member B1, the guide portion B13 may displace in the wide front portion A11, causing vibration or unstable positioning of the memory card.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a card connector that eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks.